4.0.x vs. 2.x.x OS battery usage

So we have all experienced the battery problem at some point with the gnex. Even with letting the screen time out which is said to increase battery life, my usage by the end of the day still includes the Android OS around 23% of my battery. Why does ICS do this as compared to older versions of android? I used to see the OS take 2-3% throughout my OG Droid on every ROM that I can remember. Stock, BB, CM... That extra 20% of battery life makes a huge difference. Can this be fixed or is it just a flaw of ICS?

So we have all experienced the battery problem at some point with the gnex. Even with letting the screen time out which is said to increase battery life, my usage by the end of the day still includes the Android OS around 23% of my battery. Why does ICS do this as compared to older versions of android? I used to see the OS take 2-3% throughout my OG Droid on every ROM that I can remember. Stock, BB, CM... That extra 20% of battery life makes a huge difference. Can this be fixed or is it just a flaw of ICS?

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Seriously..I'm having the same problem except mines is at 17%..my DX used to stay at 2%..I'm hoping the 4.0.3 update will help..or I'm just gonna have to step it up and root my phone which I plan on doing pretty soon..

To be honest, I'm not very convinced that the high Android OS percentage indicates extra battery drain. To me, it seems more like a change in how ICS does the background accounting, and it seems to perhaps report more things as falling under Android OS.

The reason I say this is that I have done extensive battery tests on my GN, and in all cases, idle power drain is around 1-1.5% Max per hour, when on Wifi and with Sync, etc all on. That is really good and compares quite favorably compared to my OG. Within that 1-1.5% battery drain per hour, Android OS still seems to have a larger percentage than Froyo/Gingerbread, but if I use the actual battery percentage drain metric (which you should), then it seems that there really is no major issue.

There certainly are some other bugs which occasionally prevent the phone from going into deep sleep mode, but I'm not to worried about the Android OS percentage at the moment.

I've been wondering the same thing actually. My Droid X ran about the same time at work with the same usage. After lunch I would plug the phone in so I had plenty of battery for the evening. Android OS was much lower (and is on my wifes Droid 3). But this is a new OS, so maybe Google did something different, it would be nice if they chimed in to that effect.

My Xoom just got the 4.0.3 update and it's Android OS percentage isn't as high as my phone, but it's the wifi version.

To be honest, I'm not very convinced that the high Android OS percentage indicates extra battery drain. To me, it seems more like a change in how ICS does the background accounting, and it seems to perhaps report more things as falling under Android OS.

The reason I say this is that I have done extensive battery tests on my GN, and in all cases, idle power drain is around 1-1.5% Max per hour, when on Wifi and with Sync, etc all on. That is really good and compares quite favorably compared to my OG. Within that 1-1.5% battery drain per hour, Android OS still seems to have a larger percentage than Froyo/Gingerbread, but if I use the actual battery percentage drain metric (which you should), then it seems that there really is no major issue.

There certainly are some other bugs which occasionally prevent the phone from going into deep sleep mode, but I'm not to worried about the Android OS percentage at the moment.

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I thought the same thing as you until I proved it really was Android OS killing the battery. Left data on at my job didn't touch the phone all night, battery was loosing 10% an hour WITHOUT me using the phone. Android OS registered around 60% on the battery drain graph. Turn off data, the phone sips power 1-2% drain an hour IF that. Android OS only registers in the 3-4% on the battery graph. Again this is without using the phone. Between having the data on and off the only thing on the battery graph that showed a significant change was Android OS. It with out a doubt is sending or receiving data and draining our batteries. PLEASE FIX THIS GOOGLE.

I thought the same thing as you until I proved it really was Android OS killing the battery. Left data on at my job didn't touch the phone all night, battery was loosing 10% an hour WITHOUT me using the phone. Android OS registered around 60% on the battery drain graph. Turn off data, the phone sips power 1-2% drain an hour IF that. Android OS only registers in the 3-4% on the battery graph. Again this is without using the phone. Between having the data on and off the only thing on the battery graph that showed a significant change was Android OS. It with out a doubt is sending or receiving data and draining our batteries. PLEASE FIX THIS GOOGLE.

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But that seems to indicate some other issue with your phone. I have only had that happen to me once, and a reboot fixed the issue. I have done lots of testing, and even when I am off Wifi, with 3G/4G left on and Active Sync still on, I don't see more than 2% drain per hour on my battery. I've tested this several times, with similar results.

I personally find the standby power consumption to be excellent, as long as you don't have any apps running in the background that are poorly optimized and keep waking your phone up from deep sleep, causing more power drain.

CPU Spy + Better Battery Stats + Battery Stats Widget are a good set of tools to help you troubleshoot what might be causing the drain.

But that seems to indicate some other issue with your phone. I have only had that happen to me once, and a reboot fixed the issue. I have done lots of testing, and even when I am off Wifi, with 3G/4G left on and Active Sync still on, I don't see more than 2% drain per hour on my battery. I've tested this several times, with similar results.

I thought the same thing as you until I proved it really was Android OS killing the battery. Left data on at my job didn't touch the phone all night, battery was loosing 10% an hour WITHOUT me using the phone. Android OS registered around 60% on the battery drain graph. Turn off data, the phone sips power 1-2% drain an hour IF that. Android OS only registers in the 3-4% on the battery graph. Again this is without using the phone. Between having the data on and off the only thing on the battery graph that showed a significant change was Android OS. It with out a doubt is sending or receiving data and draining our batteries. PLEASE FIX THIS GOOGLE.

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I seem to lose a lot overnight as well. I'm not in a bad service area or anything and I lose around 30% battery overnight without touching the phone. My OG didn't lose even close to that sitting idle for a night. Android OS is the major culprit in this case for me.

My OG didn't lose even close to that sitting idle for a night. Android OS is the major culprit in this case for me.

Same with my Droid X. I see Android OS on its list of items running buts WAY down on the percentage list. Not second or sometimes even #1 like it is on my Nexus.
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